Overview
- The DOJ, which released its department-wide Corporate Enforcement and Voluntary Self-Disclosure Policy on March 10, 2026, replaced a patchwork of component and U.S. attorney policies while excluding antitrust matters.
- The framework directs declinations when companies self-report to the proper DOJ criminal component, fully cooperate, remediate in a timely way, and lack aggravating factors, and it steers near-miss cases to non-prosecution agreements with no monitor, a term under three years, and a 50–75% fine reduction off the low end of the guidelines.
- The Department has already applied the policy by declining to prosecute a foreign bribery case after the company disclosed the conduct, cooperated with investigators, and fixed the problems.
- The National Security Division instructs companies to send criminal national security disclosures to VSD@usdoj.gov and notes that reports only to civil regulators such as BIS, OFAC, or DDTC do not qualify for DOJ self-disclosure credit.
- The policy counts a report as voluntary even if a whistleblower also contacts DOJ, provided the company informs DOJ within 120 days of the internal tip.